Somewhere along the line, Tom Waits and Glenn Danzig had a bastard lovechild. They named it Creepy Band.Or at least that's what you might think upon hearing the haunted carnival punk that fills Creepy's first release, Songs to Kill Yourself To. Mixing a punk ethos with a little historical reverence, Creepy wields a flair for both the theatrical and the macabre.
The bellowed vocals, which begin the EP with a bang when they scream out the title of the first track, heavily channel Danzig in their delivery. But this isn't straight Misfits idolatry. These songs slow down the mania of classic horror punk, building gradually to longer song lengths, arcing away from the fast and furious and stretching toward the epic.
Creepy Band shares Waits's penchant for forming songs around seedy characters, especially on "Shipsong," where we're treated to the laments of a crazed, dying mariner. Listen closely and you'll also find plenty of horror tropes hidden in the lyrics. Punk-toned guitars play off of church organ throughout the record, mingling old and new worlds underneath gleefully demented vocals. The unusual instrumentation carries so much of the music that it never comes off as gimmicky or forced. The songs exude a drunken sailor charm, a rough and raunchy appeal enhanced by their low-fi punk aesthetic.
Songs to Kill Yourself To is a solid and highly entertaining addition to its narrow-but-awesome sub-genre. You can pick up the five song EP as a name-your-price download from Creepy Band's Bandcamp.
Check out the new video for "Ray's Riff" below:
Check out more record reviews:
Briar Rabbit - Briar Rabbit and the Company You keep
A Lull - Confetti
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